Why Romans? - Romans 1:1-17

Well as we start this new series, I want to tell you about a church.
A church that has been highly blessed by God; blessed financially but in lots
of other ways too, not least spiritually. A church that has experienced
[some] growth and has huge opportunities for mission and evangelism on its
doorstep. A church that has a superficial unity, but below the surface
is deeply divided. Deeply divided by the different people groups that
make up the church. And, in particular, deeply divided between those who’d
been around longer and those who’d joined the church more recently.
But divided about the leadership too. Because, in this church there’d
been a transition of leadership and some of the more established members were
not happy with the new leadership. Some were unhappy with the new leader’s
style; others disagreed with his theology; some of those differences
were over secondary matters; but other differences went to the heart
of the Gospel. A portrait then of a blessed, but divided church.

And
of course, I’m talking about the church in Rome. So, if you’re
not already there, turn back with me if you would to Rom 1 on p[ 1047/
1746].

Whether you’ve been a Christian for many years
or only recently come to faith, I hope that the book of Romans is one of your
favourite parts of Scripture. Because Romans is full of individual verses
that sum up the heart of the Gospel. Verses like 3:23-24

“for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Verse
that are so good, they’re worth memorising and calling to mind every
day. But that’s what Romans remains for many Christians.
A treasurer chest of key verses, or a doctrinal reference book. But
if we look at chapter 1, then we immediately notice that it’s a letter.

When we write a letter, we follow the standard format our day don’t
we. We start off by addressing the person we’re writing to:
“Dear Mrs Smith”; we often start with some thanks, “thank
you for your letter of whenever”, or “thanks for the chocolate
or whatever”. And we finish our letters by saying who the letter’s
from: yours sincerely, Malcolm Peters.

And in these first 17
verse of Romans, Paul’s following the standard letter format of his day.
He starts in v1 by saying who the letter’s from, Paul. Then in
v7, he states who he’s writing to: the Christians in Rome;
and then in v8-10, we have a section of thanksgiving and prayers.

And
just in case we were in any doubt, at the end of the ltr in chapter 16, as
we saw in our second reading, Paul signs off his ltr by listing over 30 people
he wishes to send personal greeting to. Not a theological textbook;
but a personal ltr written by a real person, to other real people, at a particular
time and place for a specific reason. And the letter to the Romans is
going to make much more sense to us if we’ve got some idea of that background.
And so my prayer for this series is that we won’t be filling our heads
with a load of dry theology. No; my prayer is that as we see the
connections and similarities between their situation and ours, we’ll
hear the Lord speaking to us powerfully and practically. Because if we
really get to grips with the letter to the Romans, then it will affect the
way we lives our lives day by day, even hour by hour.

And
that’s why in these opening verses, were going to focus on who was writing
to who, and why?

What
was Paul?

So first of all then, who wrote this letter?
Who was Paul? Well look with me at v1:

“Paul,
a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel
of God”

Literally it’s a slave of
CJ; Paul was ‘called’ and set apart for some special purpose.
When God calls us to do something, he doesn’t just leave us to get on
with it, he equips us to do the job he’s got in mind. As Christians,
the NT constantly reminds us that we’re no longer our own; we were bought
at a price; and so if we’re Christians, then we’re all slaves
of J; ready to do his will.

But Paul was more than just
an ordinary Christian; yes he was J's slave like all Christians,
but he was called to be an Apostle and set apart in a special way for the Gospel
of God. And Paul was no ordinary apostle either; because alone
of all the other Apostles, Paul was specially commissioned to be the Apostle
to the Gentiles; to the non-Jews that is.

And
in line with that calling and specific prophetic commission, Paul had always
had a passion to preach Gospel in Rome.

But sometimes God’s
ways are not our ways. Before Paul was even converted, there
were Christians in Rome. They still went to their synagogues, but probably
started up Christian HBGs, which became house churches. Although
these houses churches were mainly Jewish, some gentiles were converted and
joined them as well.

But among the Jewish community, the message
of Jesus proved to be divisive. Many Jews rejected their Messiah and
this led to civil unrest. In fact the uproar got so bad, that in the
year 49, the Emperor Claudius chucked all the Jews out of Rome. The Christian
Jews and the non-Christian Jews. I’m not having you wreaking the
civil stability of my capital city with your stupid religious arguments.
Get out all of you.

And so the church in Rome lost those who’d
been Christians for longest; it lost those who knew their Bibles best;
it lost its leaders and key members. Maybe they’d lost one of their
key pianist and certainly the Sunday School had been depleted. All that
was left were the young Gentiles Christians who were known associates of those
who’d caused a civil disturbance and been expelled from the Imperial
City.

Imagine how weak the church was. How timid it must
have been in continuing to proclaim the Gospel. But the church did continue
to grow. But, now it was entirely Gentile; no Jews
in town remember. For 5 years, the church in Rome was 100% gentile and
so it had to grow new leaders; new house churches. But then after
5 years, Claudius died and his successor allowed the Jews to return.
And so back came all the Jewish Christians who thought they could carry on
where they’d left off; they were the church leaders right?
Wrong; so what happened? Fireworks. Fireworks made worse
by the endemic culture of anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia in Roman culture.
Even though the new Emperor has allowed the Jews back, popular Roman culture
was deeply anti-Semitic: you know the jokes about pork sausages and all
that. And it wasn’t just the Jews: the culturally sophisticated
Romans looked down on what they called the Barbarians – which the NIV
tones down to ‘non-Greeks’ in v14: those from
outside the Roman empire who spoke in guttural languages: the Germans
in other words: uncouth unsophisticated barbarians. And these anti-Semitic
racist attitudes affected the church. And so when the Jews returned and
the fireworks went off, there was deep division.

This ltr
was written 3 years after the Jews came back. But what you notice from
that long list of house churches in Rom 16, was that all those churches were
either Gentile or Jewish. In other words, in Rome, there was a form of
Christian apartheid. If you were Jewish you went to one of
these churches. And if you were civilised Roman or Greek Gentile, then
you went to one of those. And if you were German, then forget it.
We’re not bothered with the scum of the earth like you.

And
Paul remember was a Jew. So he’d been banished from Rome as well.
But ever since the Jews had been allowed back, Paul’d been desperate
to visit Rome. As he puts in v13:

13I do not want you to be
unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been
prevented from doing so until now)

And back in v11, he says that
he’d been longing to see them. He hadn’t planted
the church in Rome and he’d never visited them. And yet in an age
long before, phones, e-mails and text messages, we know from that long list
of personal greeting in chapter 16, that Paul knew all about the Christians
in Rome - personally; more than 30 people are personally named and many
of them represent mini-house churches.

And so back in chapter
1:9, when he says he constantly remembers them in his prayers at all times,
he’s not exaggerating; and he’s not just praying ‘God
bless America’ kind of prayers; you know the sort, when we pray
for God to bless Mrs Smith, Mr Jones and Aunt flow. No Paul
knew the Romans Christians intimately even though he’d never met them.
And he prayed for them by name. He knew that Mrs Smith's husband died
of cancer. He knew that Mr Jones' kids had fallen away from the Lord.
And he knew that Aunt Flow was struggling in her faith and that noone at work
knew she was a Christian. And most importantly he knew about
the problems and spiritual condition of the church on Rome.

In
v7, he addresses the letter not to the church in Rome as usually did;
you know like to the church of God in Corinth or Ephesus and so on. No
he writes to all in Rome who are loved by God. It’s a subtle way
of saying that he know all about the splits and divisions. He knows they’re
not a united church but rather a disparate collection of separate house churches.
He knows that there are deep theological and pastoral issues among these Romans
Christians. That’s why in v11, he longs to visit them; to
impart some spiritual gift to them; to teach them, train them, and if
necessary to rebuke them. Again, it’s a pastorally sensitive way
of reminding them that he knows about their issues.

And yet
despite all that, he opens in v8 with a note of praise and thanksgiving.
Despite all their problems, Paul thanks God because the Romans’ faith
is being reported all over the world. All roads lead to Rome remember;
because Rome was the centre of the universe in those days. And so people
from all over the Empire were bumping into Christians in Rome. And some
of them were becoming Christians and taking the Gospel back to the far corners
of the earth.

Yes Paul
is the great Apostle to the Gentiles; yes he needs to teach and pastor
them and this might include some tough actions. But he expects that his
faith would be built up as he spends time with them and ministers to them.

When I was visiting Glenys, I used to read her parts of this letter
and pray with her, and one of my key aims was to strengthen her in the faith
so she could face death with absolute confidence and assurance of her place
in heaven. But as I was driving home from those visits, despite
the sadness of watching a friend slowly die, my heart was usually singing and
praising God because of what Glenys had said to me. Because of how she’d
been coping and praising the Lord despite all she was going though.

So
as I’ve been preparing this sermon, I’ve been deeply challenged
by Paul. Paul the great apostle who was commissioned to travel the world
on a mission to the Gentiles. The Paul who’s writings made up the
majority of the NT; the Paul whose prayer list contains dozens and dozens
of people, and families and churches that he knew intimately; the Paul
who has didn’t shrink from the theological and pastoral issues that needed
addressing. But the Paul whose understanding of the Gospel, gave him
a deep humility in his dealings with people.

What a model
for me as a pastor. But it’s not just for pastors. If you’ve
come to know the power of the Gospel in your life, the power of sins forgiven
that is, then let me encourage to you imitate Paul; to imitate his passion
for truth, growth & maturity; but a passion for people that works
for a unity in the truth and is rooted in the humility of the Gospel.

Who
was written to?

So that was Paul. And the second big issue
we’re focusing on this morning is this: who was Paul writing to.
And in a sense we’re already covered that as we’ve looked at Paul.
He was writing to the Christians in Rome. Not a united church, but a
disparate group of house churches. Churches that needed some theological
and pastoral input from a gifted leader. But churches that were already
blessed and known for getting the Gospel out.

And that’s
why Paul wrote this letter. To prepare the church for his forthcoming
visit. And perhaps the reason he wrote such a detailed letter
was because of what we discovered in chapter 15; that he was only planning
a fleeting visit. A short visit on his way to Spain. A new missionary
venture that he hoped the Roman church would support him in. Support
him in prayer and financially.

3.
What was he writing about

Which brings us to
the 3rd main heading. What was Paul writing about?
What’s the main point of this long letter? Well come back with
me to 1:1:

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called
to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God “

From
beginning to end, the letter to the Romans is all about the Gospel; the
Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in these opening verses,
Paul introduces the key elements of the Gospel he’s going to spend the
rest of the letter unpacking:

a.
The gospel is about who Jesus is

b.
The Gospel is about what Jesus achieved by his death on the cross

c. And the
Gospel is about how we can benefit from what Jesus achieved.

So first
of all then the Gospel is about who Jesus is. In v2, we learn that it’s
not something that Paul made up in the bath. No, as we saw last term
in our series in Malachi, the Gospel was promised beforehand through His prophets
and in the rest of the OT. God promised to send a special descendent
of David; the Messiah, the Christ; the king in David’s line.
But as we leant in Malachi, the Lord also promised to visit His people in person.
And what v3 &4 are saying is that these 2 promises come together in Jesus.
Jesus was both fully God and full human as we sometimes say in the creed.
In his human nature he was a descendent of David; the promised Messiah
or Christ. But he was also God the Son. The second person of the
eternal Trinity. Because there’s one God in three Persons:
F, Son and HS. And God the Son came to earth by taking on frail human
flesh; he became a baby. The baby in the manger. Fully God
and fully human. That’s what Jesus claimed in word and deed all
through the Gospels. But for those who rejected the claim, it was blasphemous.
How can a mere man claim to be God?

Well lots of people throughout
history have claimed to be god. The Pharaohs; the Roman Emperors;
David Ike. But Jesus not only claimed to be God, but he said:
kill me and 3 days later I’ll come back to life: and he did.
As v4 puts reminds us: it was his resurrection from the dead that proves
Jesus was who he really said he was. Not just the Messiah. But God himself.
Fully God and fully human. Who was J: God in human flesh.

But secondly, what did Jesus achieve? Well a
year in advance, there’s already a lot of stuff being written about Margaret
Thatcher’s 20th anniversary of coming to power back in 1979.
She’s now and old and frail lady; it’s 18 years since she
left Downing Street. But, love her or hate her, the focus of attention
is on what she achieved on those 11 years in Downing Street. When she
eventually dies, there probably won’t be much written on the exact nature
of her death and on what happened in her last week. And yet the Gospels
of JC reserve about half their material for J's last week; their main
focus is on J's death. On his death and subsequent resurrection as we’ve
already seen in v4. And that’s the main focus of Romans too:
the heart of the Gospel is on what J’s death achieved. Salvation
. The salvation we read about in v16.

So what
does Salvation mean? Well last summer on holiday, Daniel
was making a bee-line for the open lake that was near our log cabin.
So Bethan went off to save him by dragging him away from the lake. Unfortunately,
Bethan’s salvation came at the cost of breaking Daniel’s arm, but
that’s another story. But the point is, that for salvation to have
any meaning, there must be something that we need to be saved from. Like
drowning in a lake. And accordingly to both Paul and Jesus the danger
we’re all facing is God’s wrath; God’s righteous punishment
of our sins in hell. That’s what Jesus came to save people from:
Hell.

And so thirdly, how can we benefit from that salvation
Jesus died to achieve? Well look again at v16:

16I am not ashamed
of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone
who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17For in the gospel
a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from
first to last,[c]
just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."[d]

And
the key point is that the salvation Jesus achieved on the cross isn’t
automatic. The true people of God, whether Jew or Gentile
or any other type of person, are those who’ve come to believe in J;
those who believe in who Jesus is and what His death achieved on the cross.
People who aren't ashamed of the Gospel and truly believe it’s powerful
to save them from God's wrath against them.

And that’s
why Paul wrote this letter and that’s why we’re studying it this
term: to make sure we were rock solid on the Gospel. The Gospel
of a our Lord Jesus Christ; the gospel of sins forgiven through faith
in J’s death for us on the cross. And when we’re crystal
clear on the gospel, it solve many issues and problems in the church, and others
are put into their proper perspective. Because as forgiven sinners at
the foot of the cross, our petty differences and argument pale into insignificance.
What does it matter whether you’re a Jew or a Gentile: rich &
sophisticated or poor and struggling: we’re Christians together.
What does it matter that one of us has been in the church for ages and another
has just joined: if we both believe the Gospel, then we’re fellow
Christians; brothers and sisters together in the Lord.

And
so do you see how practical this ltr is going to be for us as we study it together.
If we take onboard the message of the Gospel it contains, then it will bind
us together in a sort if unnatural unity; and it will be unnatural, because
it will be a Gospel unity; a unity created in our common salvation in the Lord
Jesus Christ.

16I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it
is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; people
like me and people like you. Amen.

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